Stage effect



(No Model.)

E. HEATON. STAGE EFPEGT,

1%., 473,927. Patented May 3, 1892..

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UETTED STATES PATENT QE TCE.

EVA HEATON, OF HO-LLY BEACH, NEXV JERSEY.

STAG E EFFECT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 473,927, dated May 3, 1892.

Application filed May 27, 1891. Serial No. 394,237. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that LEVA HEATON, of Holly Beach, in the county of Cape May and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and Improved Stage Effect, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to improvements in stage effects. It has become necessary in the production of certain kinds of dramas to introduce as much realism as possible to satisfy the public, which refuses to be satisfied with imaginary results, but demands that the machinery by which certain thrilling effects are produced shall be made visible.

The object of my invention is to meet the popular demand by settingthe stage in such a manner that the spectators will be transferred for the time to a coal-breake12 To this end my invention consists in an arrangement and combination of machinery and its accessories to produce a novel effect upon the stage, and this combination and arrangement will be hereinafter described and claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar numerals of reference inclicate corresponding parts in both the figures.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a stage arranged in accordance with my invention, and Fig. 2 is adetail view showing the chutebottom and the means for operating it.

An inclined railway 10, the rails being supported upon trusses 10" in the usual manner, extends transversely across the stage and apparently comes from the shaft 11 of a coal mine. Upon the railway is an ordinary coalcar 12, which is drawn by a cable 13, the cable being wound upon adrum 14, which drum is shown in dotted lines in the drawings, and is arranged upon the stage so as to be behind the scenes. A landing 15 is arranged on one side of the upper portion of the railway 10, and a landing 15 is arranged 011 the front side of the railway, the latter landing communicating by winding stairs 16 with a landing 17, which latter landing is below the railway and adjacent to a coal-crusher 18. An inclined chute 19 leads from the upper landing 15 to the crusher 18, and down this chute the coal is supposed to descend from the car 12 to be crushed in the crusher. The bottom of the chute 19 is formed of an endless belt, which is carried by the rollers 19, arranged at the ends of the chute, and the lower roller is connected by a belt with the crusher 18, so that the rollers and chute-bottom will operate in unison with the crusher. Near the entrance to the shaft 11 is a large blower 20, which is to supply air to the shaft. 7 The various machines are driven by the ordinary mechanism, and the accessories of the stage are so arranged that it appears like an ordinary coal-breaker.

In the drawings, the figure of a girl appears in the car 12, and the figure of a man bound hand and foot is seen descending the inclined chute 19 to the crusher. At a certain point in the play some ruffians have seized the man on the landing 15, have rendered him insensible, and then have bound him hand and foot and thrown him into the chute. The ruffians have then descended to the floor and started the machinery, which, when under way, makes a tremendous rumble and roar, like the ordinary machinery in acoal-breaker. When the machinery is started, the chutebottom begins to move and the man begins to descend toward the crusher. As he nears the crusher the car 12 appears traveling up the inclined railway, it having emerged from the shaft 11, and the girl in the car sees the man and recognizes him as her lover. She immediately springs from the car upon the landing 15, opposite which the car has by this time traveled, and she rushes down the stairway 16 to the landing 17, seizes the man just as he is about to pass between the rolls of the crusher, cuts his bonds, draws him from the chute, and lands him safely upon the landing 17.

It will be readily understood that, taken in connection with the other parts of the plot, this effect will be very thrilling, and it is rendered so largely by the setting of the stage and the din of the machinery.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. The herein-described arrangement and organization of machinery to producea stage effect, consisting of an inclined railway eX- tending upward across the stage, a car traveling upon the railway, a crusher beneath the ings, a crusher at the foot of the lower landing, and a chute extending from the upper landing beneath the railway and delivering upon the crusher, substantially as described.

3. lhe herein-described arrangement and organization of machinery to produce a stage effect, consisting of an open shaft produced on one side of the stage, an inclined railway leading upward across the stage from the shaft, a car traveling upon the railway, landings arranged at the upper end of the railway, a crusher beneath and in front of the railway, a chute extending forwardly under the railway from the upper landing to the crusher, and a stairway leading from the upper landing to apoint adjacent to the crusher, substantially as described.

4. A scenic effect to represent a coal-breaker, comprising an entrance to a mine-shaft, a track extending from the shaft-entrance upward across the stage, a car on the track, a crusher on the stage below the track, a chute inclined downward and forward under the track to the crusher and having its bottom formed of an endless belt, and means for operating the car, the crusher, and the belt, substantially as set forth.

EVA HEATON. Witnesses:

WARREN B. HUTCHINSON, E. M. CLARK. 

